Explorers of Tharsis and All Misadventures
by Musicstarnc
Summary: A series of one-and-two-shots centering around the Verdanta guild and a few others from Tharsis. From crushes to monsters and missions to dates to skirmishes over who gets the last slice of pizza. New and old friends and family and stories from the past that haunt those living in the present. See it all unfold in one big mess of fun! Rated T for possible future content and cussing.
1. The Runemaster's Sacred Trial

**Hey dere people. Remember how I've been saying I wanted to start a series of Etrian Odyssey one-shots using the characters from my EO4 game...? Well, I did it. And here's the first one. For those of you who have seen ****_The Guild that Would be Great _****you'll recognize one of the characters here. The other has been mention though she won't make an actual appearance and the last... well, she's brand new to you all. Also, I did this for a school project hence the other two paragraphs of authors notes. You can skip over them since I only kept them since I thought it was kinda funny how I wrote them. **

****WARNING: the following story may contain LOTS of unfixed typos. This is because I cannot proofread to save my life or anyone else's. So if aliens are taking over the world and the only way to stop them is to have someone proofread something: Do. Not. Pick. Me.** **

**This is also a fanfiction of sorts for the game Etrian Odyssey IV: The Legend of the Titan though all of the characters in this tale are mine save for their physical attributes due to the characterization part of the game. Pretty much it's "create your own character." I say "of sorts" as no characters nor anything truly relevant to the game are used. There is a mentioning of one item explained here: Ariadne's Thread transports you back to the beginning of an area so as not to make wounded party members fight. Other than what has just been mentioned the game was merely an inspiration.**

The Runemaster's Sacred Trial

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" A girl's scream ripped through the quiet atmosphere of the icy plain. Small creatures who might have challenged them ran in fear of the beast chasing the trio. The smallest of the group, a girl with long white hair and a creamy complexion screamed as she ran for her life. She wore white leggings, brown snow boots, a royal blue tunic and a dark cloak. She had a snow cap pulled down over her ears, the puffs on the ends bounced as she ran. Her eyes were blue as the sky on a clear day, her cheeks freckled. She looked absolutely terrified, yet, she turned on the beast behind her. "INCENDIO!" A rune solidified itself into the frigid air and a column of hot flame shot toward the monster. It was enough to at least forecheck it for a few seconds, allowing her friends to bound farther away from it.

"Thank you!" A tall blonde yelled as she bounded past the runemaster. The younger nodded and followed in her tracks. "It's only a little farther, I can see it now," the blonde huffed as she ran. Sure enough in the distance an opening loomed.

_If this is another dead end... _the white-haired runemaster began to think, then quickly shook it off. No. If it was another dead end... then they were dead. She couldn't afford to think like that. Staying positive was the only way she would make it out of this tundra alive.

And she ran. She ran fast and far attempting to make it to the opening before something bad happened. But the blonde was falling behind. Her scream tore through the young runemaster's body, her stomach churned with concern and she whipped around just in time to see the beast had caught up to her and she was sailing through the air.

"Kailynne!" She found herself screaming as she doubled back to make sure she was alright. Poor Kailynne, the blonde, had collided with a tree and had fallen quite unceremoniously to the ground. She was slumped against the tree but judging as she seemed to get back up onto her feet not too long later, she was probably alright.

"I'm fine," Kailynne growled. "But we need to get to Alynn." The runemaster's eyes flicked to a form on the ground just out of their reach. Thankfully, the beast was more interested in them than poor, defenseless Alynn on the ground. Kailynne drew a sword, spells ran through the runemaster's mind.

"Okay, here's the plan: one of us distracts it, the other gets Alynn and runs for the opening," Kailynne muttered slowly and hardly audible as she lowered her sword, sizing up where would be best to strike first.

The runemaster peered up at the monster trying to size it up. It was hard to have her confidence not waver looking at it. It looked like a huge kangaroo with no pouch on it's belly. It's fur was silvery and spiked here and there. It's belly itself was a thick black hide like that of an alligator but the wrong color. It had a large maw with rows (yes, MULTIPLE rows) of sharp, needle-like, yellowed teeth. The teeth and some of it's torso was still stained red from it's last meal. It's eyes were a menacing shade of blood red and peered at the two girls with venom. The fact that was at least a story tall made it hard not to whimper like a scared little puppy. Kailynne's normally placid face was tinged with anger and determintaion, not a single trace of fear in her blue eyes.

It let out a high frequency howl catching the two midband. The runemaster and Kailynne clapped their hands to their ears a second too late. The runemaster's legs began to wobble, her stomach was beginning to feel a bit queasy. But she would not back down with Alynn's life - or any life - on the line.

The runemaster whispered something, a spell she'd learned for listening through walls backwards. For some spells saying them backwards had an adverse effect, as this one did. It blocked the high pitched noise from both her ears and Kailynne's. She even made it appear over Alynn, who much to the runemaster's dismay did not appear to be moving.

While the monster attempted to subdue them with high-pitched wails the two of them sprung to action. The runemaster shot like a bullet toward Alynn while Kailynne rushed the beast. The monster turned on the runemaster, a mistake, as it provided Kailynne with the perfect opening to attack. She jumped as high as gravity would allow and slashed at it with her sword, not making any visible damage but most certainly getting it's attention.

The runemaster slipped past the monster and reached Alynn panting. She slung the girl over one arm as she was relatively small, the same height as she herself, but she had a smaller body. Then she ran as fast as she could without causing further harm to Alynn.

Alynn was small, like the runemaster, but small-boned as well and flat-chested. Her short purple hair flopped over one side of her face, her red square-shaped glasses hanging awkwardly to the side. Her dark blue coat had been torn badly and the runemaster had to suppress the urge to shift her with all of her willpower, as in her current position her arm was curled delicately over her wound and something warm was seeping onto it. Supposedly, Alynn was an amazing healer but she'd only proven to be highly superable to the runemaster thus far. But she was friend of Kailynne's and the runemaster had known Kailynne for sometime now. Her face was unnaturally pale but the frigid air made every breath visible. She was still alive, thank the gods...

Before long she was at the opening and from the sound of heavy footsteps following her, Kailynne wasn't too far behind.

"RAWR!"

And neither was Mister Monster. Great...

The runemaster gently placed Alynn beside the opening, protected by what appeared to be a door with no hinges or any indication it might open at all. It had a strange mark carved into the center, which to the runemaster's eyes alone, glowed green.

She closed her eyes trying to remember the incantation to unlock it.

"ANYTIME NOW, ACACIA!" Kailynne called from behind them. She was a good 15-20 feet away, and ran as fast as her legs would propel her. The runemaster, Acacia, rolled her eyes like this was nothing new or she hadn't been in that same position two minutes ago. She paused in thought until the spell hit her.

She spread her hands pointing her fingers at the door and muttering strange words while varying runes shimmered in the air. The symbols on the door reacted and began interagglutinating themselves to one another. Some of the blocks began to underbevel each other, frustrating Acacia as the spell was difficult enough, but now she was doing it pressured and on a time limit. The door clicked into place just as Kailynne reached them. The door deteriorated once the spell had been performed and once it was gone Kailynne picked up Alynn and they all ran inside. Once they were past where the door had once stood it re-appeared in a flash of light.

"How the-?"

"Magical doors are magical," Acacia shrugged to answer Kailynne's question.

"Oh yeah, good job on the door. I wasn't running for my life or anything!" Kailynne huffed semiallegorically.

_BANG! CRASH! BANG!_

It was at this moment the trio remembered the monster behind the door who very much wanted them dead. They moved farther away from the door and settled down.

"Alynn, can you hear me?" Kailynne whispered. She made a soft whimpering noise and her eyes fluttered but she otherwise didn't move. Acacia and Kailynne exchanged looks, neither of them were healers. How were they going to help her?

"I think we should press on. What we're looking for could help her," Acacia suggested. She knew that she was sounding mean toward Alynn, but it really could help her.

"What!? No we're helping her!" Kailynne transacted.

"Think about it, neither of us know how to help her, and if we finish the mission we can use the Ariadne's Thread and get out of here. The we can get her to a hospital," Acacia trailed off as her eyes trailed to Alynn's wound. She didn't know how deep it was and didn't really want to know. All she could see was that it was bleeding heavily and was in her side.

Kailynne grudgingly agreed though she did make Acacia help wrap the wound up to stow the bleeding some first. Kailynne carried her in her arms and they continued into this part of the area without getting attacked by anything.

They found a large lake in the center of the tundra. It was frosted on the ends but the water, though sitting distilled, remained unfrozen.

Acacia walked to the edge and peered down into the water's depths. If she squinted just right... there. It was at the bottom of the lake. Acacia used her lifting spell to get the item, a small glowing blue orb that radiated power, over to them. Acacia walked over for job well done when the light the orb gave off pulsated healing their wounds. Major and minor scratches as well as the deep seated wound to Alynn's whole side were stitched up without so much as a trace left behind. Alynn's quiet sobs of pain shifted to deep breathing and it was pretty obvious that she'd been put to sleep.

With the satisfaction of a job well done the trio used the Ariadne Thread and escaped the dungeon with their item now in tow. All that was left for them now was to follow Alynn's lead and go straight to sleep.

The Runemaster's Sacred Trial - End

**Well, I hope you all liked it. In case you can't tell: this was a vocab assignment. The words are a liiiiiitle difficult so I left them underlined. Even I can't remeber half of the definitions. Sad, I know. I have a really good picture I did of Alynn, Kailynne, and Robyn in my sketchbook and once I get to a scanner I'll set it as the cover for this story. I have an idea for a two-shot for this that I'll post when I get around to it and as with my HetaCapitols one-shot series this will have unscheduled updates. As in when I feel like it or have a good one updates. Or requests which I would LOVE to get for this. It can even include your own characters so long as I get a bio to base it on. Though please try to PM me for those, it's easier on me. I think that's all my tacks for the bottom so... thanks for reading and drop a review for me if you please. :D**


	2. Sweet Dreams, Little Bird

**I swear to god I'm not dead! My computer broke back in July and I just got a new one for Christmas (not like that wasn't three months ago or anything). This goes out to my amazing boyfriend who is amazing and got me the full freaking version of EO4 for Christmas. (Yes, I know that was months ago. No, I don't care.) Let this be the start of me getting back into writing! Also, I did start writing quite a few one and two shots for this so yay! But I also have to re-start writing the next chapter in **_**The Guild that Would be Great.**_** *Sigh* You win some, you lose some. But hey, it was not turning out anyway. Not in my opinion at least. WHY DOES NEXT PERSON HAVE TO BE SO HARD TO WRITE FROM! Now what better way to come back than with a sad-as-fuck fic. Enjoy.**

_Damn it all, I'm crying again..._

My brother's bony fingers push my bangs back in an attempt to comfort me. I guess I woke him up. I opened my eyes a little bit, enough to see him.

His alabaster skin seemed to be paler than normal. Tears leaked in equal measure from his orange-brown eyes as snot from his nose. His black hair stuck up around his head like a porcupine. Seeing my big brother crying, it was enough to make me at least crack a smile.

"Rocky, why are you crying?" I ask him. My brother is no badass, I've seen him cry plenty of times... but it was always for someone else. I guess he's just always been a person to cry for no other reason than because someone else is crying.

"I don't know. Why are you crying?" He asks me, trying to wipe the tears from his face.

My lips split into a full grin despite the fact that more tears found their way onto my face. I shift closer to him and his arms wrap around me. "I don't know either..." my voice shakes.

"I miss her too..." He admits, already knowing why I'm crying. I bury my face in his shirt. It had been white when the foster people had given it to him the day before yesterday, but now it was a mix of browns and greens from playing outside. He smelled like dirt. At least some things never changed.

"I want her back..." I sobbed. Hating how weak I was. Hating how trapped I felt holed up in an orphange somewhere in the middle of _fucking nowhere_. Hating myself for not going back. Rocky squeezes me. Shit, I'm crying even harder now.

"So do I," Rocky's shaking. I'm not sure if it's because he's crying as hard as I am or if he's remembering too. The village, the flames, the blood on the neighbors... I'm shaking just thinking about it. I'm not sure if it's from fear, sadness, or rage.

"What are we going to do now?" I ask him. I hope he's got a better plan than wait. Because I ain't doing that shit.

"No clue. I sent Dad a letter yesterday. Maybe he'll come?" He's trying to sound hopeful. I doubt it. I haven't heard from my father in years. Occasionally we get a letter to say he's still alive. That he still cares, and misses us just as badly as we miss him. I know it's not his fault. A soldier's duty is on the frontlines. Nothing can change that. Except maybe bringing an end to the whole damn thing.

I push on my brother, not hard enough to actually hurt him, but enough to make him move. "If we're lucky, maybe," I know my words are cruel. He won't come. He can't. But I can't tell Rocky that. Not right now. He's trying to be strong, I shouldn't bring him down.

"It's past bedtime, little ones," A hard voice spilts my brother and I as we stare into the face of Madame Fletcher. Her beady black eyes remind me of a bird of prey coupled with the piercing glare she's frying us with. "Go to sleep." Cold as ice, the words send us spiraling for warmth under the blanket. We close our eyes and will her to leave.

The feel of her stare is gone first. It is followed with the sound of heels clicking on the polished wood floor. She's gone. We're safe.

I let out a breath of relief. Rocky turns to me. He places his hand on my shoulder. It's nice knowing he's there.

"Goodnight, Little Bird. Sweet dreams," he smiles, but all I can focus on are the tears stains tracking through the grime on his face. They'll make him bathe tomorrow. Probably me too. I'm not much cleaner than he is.

I don't sleep.

I watch my brother's peaceful face.

Listen to the snores and heavy breathing of all of the other kids around me.

Stare at the moonlight filtering through the window.

Glance nervously back at my brother, already feeling guilty for what I'm planning.

Back at the window again. I'm too short to reach the lock, but I won't be if I balance on that headboard...

I slip out, careful not to disturb my brother. Grab my bow and quiver out from under the bed. I don't have any of my belongings, they were all in the house. I pull my boots on. Pull my hair back in a ponytail with the red ribbon Rocky bought me for my birthday earlier this year. Grab my clothes that I had been wearing prior to being taken here.

I glance back at Rocky, considering waking him up and taking him with me. It's late. He'd ask questions. He'd try to stop me for sure. I leave him be, already missing him. Gingerly, I kiss the tips of my fingers and brush them across his forhead. A silent farewell.

_He'll be fine, _I repeat this thought over and over. Turning it into my mantra. I squeeze my eyelids shut, trying not to cry. The effort is giving me a headache. I can't cry anymore, not if I want out. Not if I'm going to be free. Not if I'm going to make this right.

_He'll be fine, _ I think as I cross the room on light feet. Careful not to make a sound.

_He'll be fine, _I reassure myself as I climb onto the headboard of another little girl's bed so I can reach the lock on the window.

_He'll be fine, _I doubt myself as I release the lock and climb down onto the ledge, wedging the window open as I do so.

_He'll be FINE, _I lie to myself as forcefully as I can, jumping down from the ledge and landing safely on my feet outside.

I close the window behind me, but can't lock it. They'll know once morning hits, but I'll be long gone by then. I turn my back on the orphanage, on my cage. Take a shaky breath and take a step forward.

Then another.

One more.

Three more.

I'm running. Flying across the dirt leaving what I can behind me. I won't cry. I will avenge my mother. I'll... I'll become an explorer and bring those stupid meanies to justice!

The sleeping little birds, _stupid little birds, _are still trapped in their cage. But tonight I alone fly free.

**Is anyone else crying? I hope so, I don't wanna be the only one. TTATT. This definitely got more poetic than I had originally intended, but yeah. Told my BF I'd write more EO4 stories (or at least finish what I had) once I had the game. I took three months. I suck. -bonks head- Anyway tell me what you think. I found some of my older stories AND my Character Bio notes on my cupcake flashdrive so I don't have to re-write absolutely everything! This was not one of those drafts btw, I started writing this after playing EO4 all day during winter break. But then I got stuck and forgot about this. I HATE THE LUSH WOODLANDS! I ESPECIALLY HATE THOSE STOOPID FROOKING CUTTERS! AAAGH! DX Also, I have a BUNCHA things to finish including **_**Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars **_**before I return that to the library. Be expecting a fic for that soon too, because of course I started writing one. I'm on the third labyrinth. It's fucking annoying. But it makes me hopeful that the boss won't be a pushover like the first two were. XD That's it from me, thanks for reading! XD**


	3. Letters to an Absent Father

_Dearest Papa, _

_I still haven't found her I'm sad to say. I know Robyn can be a bit flighty and I know she was afraid but to just up and leave like she did? I hope she's okay. I'm worried. Don't you worry though; I'll find her. And when I do I'll give her a huuuuuge hug for you! And maybe a scolding as well, she certainly deserves one._

_How are you holding up? I know it's probably really hard for you right now. I hope this letter finds you well. Remember to eat enough and to be careful. I've been taking pretty good care of myself so far. I'm trying hard not to skip meals and making sure to get at least a little sleep every night. I've been having a lot of nightmares lately. But what is that bit of knowledge to a man whose days are now populated by them? Probably a lot knowing you, actually. Don't worry. A short walk and I'm able to drift back to sleep easily enough. _

_Let's change the subject. Have you ever been on a boat before, Dad? I haven't until today. The constant rocking is jarring and sometimes nauseating but… comforting at night. Like the world itself is rocking you to sleep. And the sound of the waves against the ship... the coo of birds and the constant smell of sea salt… it's peaceful. We should totally go on a cruise once everything is over and done with. We could all use a vacation like this. I wonder if this stationary will smell like the sea when you open the letter._

_The crew members wouldn't even let me pay for hitchhiking with them. Is it even still called that if you're on a boat? I think perhaps the proper term would be stowaway, but they know I'm here and I'm a welcome presence. They all smile at me when I walk past them. And to think all I did was help them bind a monster I'm sure they could've handled. There are some really nice people in this world._

_Anywho, I should probably wrap this letter up as we're almost to shore. Wish me luck on my adventures as I wish you luck with, well, everything. I love you and I miss you. Respond if you can. It's not like you have before but I don't blame you. I'm not entirely sure you're even getting these. Regardless I'll keep writing. I hope to see you soon, and maybe this time Robyn will be with me._

_Wishing you love and luck, your son, _

_Raquen_

**Inspired by the amazing little Pokemon comic strips of the same name and also by the novels _Thirteen Little Blue Envelopes _and _The Last Little Blue Envelope _by Maureen Johnson. And of course the idea strikes at the worst. Time. Ever. But fuck studying for an AP exam I have in less than six hours or sleeping am I right? _Oh gods, I'm gonna fail..._**


End file.
